The present invention generally relates to a marker, and it is specifically directed an improved plant marker assembly comprised of a ground stake element and a detachable identification plate element.
The prior art is replete with apparatuses that are driven into the ground for the purpose of identifying plants and vegetation growing within their vicinity. Some of these known plant markers are simply single piece articles comprising both ground anchoring and plant identification sections. U.S. Pat. No. D483,410 to Overdevest, et al., for example, illustrates a plant identification marker of such singular construction. However, a drawback of many unitary prior art markers is that they are not adapted for use in identifying different species of plants. More specifically, when a marker's anchoring part is inseparably integrated with its plant indicia-bearing part, that particular marker likely can be used to identify only a single type of plant, thus, requiring a user to acquire potentially several markers for identifying several different plants.
There are other prior art plant markers that feature slots or pockets for fitting relatively flat pieces of plant identifying indicia within. For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,835,994 to Kuefner and 4,534,125 to Buck disclose a marker apparatuses that include indicia holders fabricated of transparent material, wherein the holders have pockets that plant identification cards or seed packets can be slid into. U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,200 to Dailey, et al. discloses another marker that, although configured quite differently, also comprises a holder component for inserting an identification sign into. However, because the pocket parts of many of these types of assemblies can be constantly exposed to the environment, they often are susceptible to mold formation or corrosion that can affect transparency of the material through which a pocketed sign or other form of plant indicia is to be viewed. Furthermore, particularly because of their size dimensions, these holding spaces can be inconvenient, if not difficult, to clean.
Still other known plant markers incorporate identification bearing components that are removably affixed to their ground anchoring parts, as is true of the present invention. Generally, plant markers of this construct are beneficial to consumers in that they allow a single anchor, or stake, to be used interchangeably with multiple different identification plates, signs or holders. Thus, when a plant identification part of a marker assembly becomes deteriorated or otherwise undesirable, a consumer need only replace that identification part and not the stake part. Nevertheless, despite this advantage, depending upon specifically how a removable identification part of a plant marker is to be affixed to the stake part (i.e., by friction therebetween, a locking mechanism, etc.), there may exist the possibility of the two parts becoming inadvertently detached, especially due to wind effects or extensive wear.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a need for an improved plant marker comprised of a stake and a plant identification plate that is removably mounted thereto, together constructed so as to eliminate the likelihood of the plate accidentally separating from the stake and configured so as to reduce the possibility of wind knocking over the marker. The plant marker of the present invention substantially fulfills this existing need.